So. Sometimes, reading other writers’ blogs, I’ll read about the sort of research another author might put into their story. Maybe they’ll (1) talk about traveling to a relevant city (not exactly within reach for most of us), or pouring over Google maps of a relevant city (definitely sensible – sounds like a lot of work though – so, maybe a reason to avoid contemporary settings if at all possible?). Or (2) they’ll call up or interview an expert or…
This post is mostly just going to be pretty pictures. This summer, we went on an overnight backpacking trip with my dad in the Bitterroot mountains in Montana, on the trail up toward Glen Lake. My dad remembered the trail as very forested, but since he’d been there last, wildfire had gone through and taken out nearly all the trees. So, instead of a shady forest, we had a very sunny trip, with lots and lots of wildflowers.
Well, it is time for another round of Quirky (true) Stories. This time, I have a theme, which is: The evidence I have so far accumulated that many cartoon tropes (and cartoon-style physics) are, in fact, based on pure reality. Evidence the first: Cockroach encounters. Okay, to start, I grew up in Montana, where we kinda, mostly don’t have cockroaches? I mean, maybe we do, but if so, they keep a very low profile. So, the first time I ever…
(Warning, this post contains a lot of exclamation points.) Okay. It is time to tell you about another piece of art that I really love. Ta Da! This wonderful book (Trees A Visual Guide by Tony Rodd and Jennifer Stackhouse) is an example of a niche art-form I will call Coffee Table Reference Books. One might be tempted to label it as simply a Coffee Table book considering that it has such beautiful, glossy photos and such beautiful commitment to…
Last year, after I had finished posting all of the installments for my first SSCS (Because the Desert is a Great, Broad Beast of Memory),I put up a post talking about different aspects of the story and/or the writing process, in the same vein as the pieces authors sometimes do when, for example, they’re doing a blog tour to promote their new book. Now that all of the installments have been posted for my most recent SSCS, How to Catch…
I may have lots and lots of roses (that bloom sometimes), but did you know I also have lots and lots of irises (that bloom sometimes)! Like roses, irises are decadently beautiful, come in so many colors and varieties, and (traditionally) smell heavenly. (Also like roses, many of the newer, frillier varieties don’t have very much scent, but so it goes.) The season for irises is shorter than for roses, and also earlier, which means that all of my irises…
So, last year I was on a small team at work that won one of my company’s annual recognition awards. Which should be at least a small ‘Yay!’ But, the circumstances of the win were such that it actually just made me kind of annoyed, and that flipped the switch in my brain that goes into rant mode. For some reason, the rant that came out was formatted as an explanatory rant to my TaeKwonDo Instructor, even though he had…
As I am writing this, I’m getting close to a hand-off point, when I’ll have just wrapped up one of my latest SSCS’s (the Serial Stream-of-Consciousness Stories that I work on periodically as a break from my more directed writing) and will then be needing to add a new SSCS onto my docket (I usually have three running at any given time). That begs the question: What should I use as my seed for the next one? The story ideas…
So, here’s a crazy thing. I’m writing this on a Wednesday, and as I left work today I was actually feeling a little excited about my job. This shouldn’t be a crazy thing. I work in Astronomy, as a Scientific Programmer, which is a combination of two things I really, really like and am good at. However, for a variety of reasons, not all of them to do directly with my job (you can probably guess one or two), the…
Yay, I’ve made something pretty for my house, or rather two somethings. Two pretty pillow covers for the pillows on my couch. (Actually, from the picture below you can see that I had the bases for three, but I’ve only got two of them complete right now and also only two couch pillows, so that third one might languish, unfinished for…a bit. Not forever, though. It was too very satisfying sewing with such yummy colors; I know I’ll want to…